Strategy
Strategy is about shaping the future. Corporate strategy is about shaping the future for an organisation. You use strategy to figure out how to achieve your purpose and ambitions. You move between where you want to go (ends) and what you need to do to get there (means). Great strategy is the quickest route from means to ends to shape your future.
We bring to your attention the successful strategy of the Cheesecake Factory as an example.
The Cheesecake Factory has grown into a billion-dollar corporation. Its recipe for success is based on a small number of strategic ingredients. They founder created a ‘unique concept with the broadest, deepest menu in casual dining’ and the best cheesecake he could make. They spend $ 2000 per employee just on training to make sure people deliver the best customer experience.
These are strategic decisions. They are not accidental, although they did not all come from planning. They are part of strategic package. They shape the competitive environment. They stop copycats. And they shape the future in ways that are desirable and believable to investors, managers and employees.
Objective
Shaping the future of an organisation involves every part and everyone. Strategy considers thing inside and outside the organization that will make a difference to its success. The strategist also looks for opportunities and threats to the future of the organization. To shape the future requires a combination of thinking, planning and reacting to events that emerge along the way. These provide key strategy questions:
-
What do we want to do?
-
What do we think is possible?
-
What do we need to do to achieve our goals?
-
When should we react to new opportunities and adapt plans?
What do we want to do?
This establishes a sense of what is desirable. Organisations tend to have an overall purpose. Sometimes the purpose is very precise and deliberately agreed; sometimes the purpose of the organisation is very ambiguous. There may be many different opinions about what the organisation is for and what is should do. These opinions may conflict and compete with each other. This is all of interest to the strategic thinker
We do we think is possible?
This introduces some sense of practicality. You look at opportunities in the world contrasted with the resources that the organization either has or can obtain. But looking at opportunities can also expand a sense of what is possible beyond what has been done in the past. What do the achievements of others and trends in technology and consumer desires allow your company to do next?
What do we need to do to achieve our goals?
This includes the necessary strategic moves to achieve the overall goals of the organisations. It includes the style of leadership as well as the structures and processes of the organization, and the projects, tasks, roles, products and services that have to be done to achieve organizational aspirations. Ideally these actions work together in some – more or less – harmonious way so that the sum of actions is greater than their parts.
When should we react to new opportunities and adapt plans?
Our views of the future are incomplete. When we write our plans or decide on an overall purpose we don’t really know what is going to happen next. Small and big events will happen that challenge the existing strategy. New opportunities will emerge that are bigger, better or just different from those we thought of the first time.